1. Crate Training Your Puppy is the fastest way to have a completely house-trained pup.
Taking a puppy out for frequent potty breaks and rewarding the puppy for appropriate elimination is only 1/2 the battle. Crates teach puppies how to hold their bladder until they are outside the "den" and in the correct place.
2. Crate Training keeps your puppy safe.
Puppies can get into anything in a second. Sometimes it is just annoying when they chew things, but sometimes it is really, really dangerous. Wires, small ingestible items (I found a green thumb tack in puppy poop once), and certain foods can be dangerous for puppies.
3. Crate training teaches puppies how to settle down and stay in one spot for a reasonable amount of time.
If they never practice "chilling out" in one location when they are young, they are unlikely to do it later. Of corse they are young so they will need help settling down. Chews, kongs, and other food puzzles are excellent items to give to your pup in a crate.
OTHER THOUGHTS
Puppies can generally hold their bladders for only short periods of time.
A general rule of thumb is: 1 hr for every month of age. A 2-month old puppy will need to be let out of the crate for a potty-break somewhere between 1.5 - 2 hrs.
Do not expect your pup to hold it when they are running around.
A free-roaming pup might pee every 10-30minutes. Puppies will generally hold their bladder if they are in a small, confined space (your crate). At about 10-12 weeks I find that most pups can make it through the night without needing a potty-break, but this does not mean that they can "hold it" or be crated for that long during the day.
If your pup has just peed and pooped then spend time with them in the house.
Supervise them carefully and re-direct them onto their toys if they start to chew on anything inappropriate. After about 30-minutes your 8-10 week old pup will probably be "feeling the urge." At this point you can take them out again or crate them for 1hr. so that they have a chance to practice "holding it" until they are taken to the potty spot again.
Hi Kelley,
I am interested in your ideas and teaches learning about your knowledge on training tips for dogs. I have german shepherd solid black and he is now 5 mos. old. I have a very big problem on him; he eats his feces whenever he urg's his butt he turned around, smell it and grab!! ew!. What i always did is i keep on eye with him whenever he had a heavy play after sometime when turned around by itself then it will be. When he started to smell it i will immediately shouted to him "NO" then he leave and play again. Please help, what should i do? because when i am not around he still eat his feces.
Jo-ann G. Neri
Philippines
Dear Jo-ann,
I know that Poop Eating (Coprophagia) is a disgusting behavior, but it is unlikely to MAKE your dog sick, so at least you can let that worry go. It will be easier for you and your dog if you remain calm during training -even if he relapses. The causes of Coprophagia are not fully understood. However, veterinarians, behaviorists and trainers generally agree that it is a behavioral problem. On the other side of the coin, there are a handful illnesses that can cause coprophagia (poop eating), but they generally present with more symptoms, including diarrhea. To be on the safe-side, take your dog to the vet, especially if your dog has diarrhea and or has not been to the vet for vaccinations.
Once you know your dog is healthy, the following training plan should help.
1. Know that STRESS is the enemy. Your dog is very young and he may still be nervous, or stressed out about going to the bathroom. Stress is the cause of many undesirable canine behaviors. Believe it or not, there is a lot that can stress a 5-month old a puppy. They are learning to hold their bladder and bowels, as opposed to just going whenever they feel like it. They are also still in the process of learning when and where they may go to the bathroom. I know your shepherd is getting big, but he is still a baby. Potty-training a pup can be frustrating, but avoid punishing mistakes. Instead tighten up on management and forgive mistakes.
2. Do NOT let GOOD BEHAVIOR go unnoticed. Reward your dog every time he goes to the bathroom in the appropriate place. As soon as your dog has finished PEEING or POOPING, use your best happy voice to praise him. Then feed him a tasty treat. Toss a second treat away from the poop to distract your dog while you remove the poop with a scoop or bag. If you have already been doing this, continue and make sure that you do it for BOTH pees and poops. I would skip shouting "No!" this could cause more stress. Just wiggle the dog treat and praise your dog, so that his attention is on you and he leaves the poop alone.
3. CLEAN UP! Always join your dog on potty walks so that you can reward your dog and scoop the poop immediately.
4. INCREASE EXERCISE & MENTAL STIMULATION. Make sure that your dog is getting plenty of vigorous exercise each day. A 5-month old Shepherd could probably use at least two 1-hour play sessions each day. This means running, fetching, hiking, playing with dogs. More is always better. And, when you leave your dog alone, make sure that your dog has plenty of things to CHEW. Bones and Kongs are best.
5. Try adding a supplement to your dog's food so that the poop will be unappealing to your dog. There are several products, listed below, but I have also heard various recommendations on adding enzymes to your dog's food. The theory is that if poop-eating is caused by under-digestion (eat the poop to give a second go at getting all the nutrients), then the enzymes help the food become more digestible.
At this point, regardless of the CAUSE, there is also a BAD HABIT. I recommend trying the supplements IN ADDITION to doing the behavior modification work. If you are only going to do one, try the behavior stuff first (its free), then buy a supplement if there is no change in behavior after 3-weeks.
- Forbid (TM)(R)
- Deter (TM)(R)
- Papaya, Fig or Pinneaple (These food contain enzymes that break down amino acids).
- Meat Tenderizer (from a grocery store) contains enzymes that break down protein.
Dear Six-Months & SepAnxie,
It is unclear from the information that you have given me whether your pup has the disorder called Separation Anxiety or whether you have a very normal, rascally pup who just got bored or frustrated when left alone. Is that her picture? She looks very cute. For both your sakes, I hope your pup is just a rascal; Separation Anxiety is not easy to fix and rarely gets better without professional help.
I am a little concerned that she is already 6-months old and has not been left alone more than a few times. Did you just adopted her? Are you taking her to work or doggie daycare? Is someone almost always at home? Or, have you avoided leaving her alone because of the mess she makes?
Always staying with or taking along your pup may seem "better." However, puppies who are not crate/confinement-trained and/or left alone before 3-4 months of age are more likely to vocalize excessively and behave destructively when left alone later in life. It is not too late to teach her to be alone, but it might take some patience & dedicated training. Again that she is 6-month and making a mess does not mean she has Separation Anxiety Disorder, she may just be a normal, messy pup. Even if she does not like being left alone, there is hope. I hope the post below can guide you.
Thanks for inquiring,
IS YOUR PUPPY PITCHING-A-FIT WHEN LEFT ALONE?
For many owners/guardians it is hard to gauge a "normal" amount of puppy barking, whining, flailing. This is increasingly hard when one is trying to accomplish crate/confinement-training. Depending on the dog, it can seem like your puppy is suffering horrifically when you leave her alone. While it often sounds awful, there is a good degree of hyped up hysterics that can just be ignored. This is easy for trainers and other dog professionals, but hard for new puppy parents who are justifiably protective of their new pup.
Puppies come pre-programmed with a highly-successful attention-seeking behavior: bark, howl, cry, whine. When this doesn't work, (because you ignore their barking (look away, stay away, or stop talking, looking or petting) they throw a puppy-temper-tantrum. This can look and sound downright scary, so it is understandable why owners panic and grope for information about what is happening. However jumping to a diagnosis of Separation Anxiety for a pup that barks is like determining that someone who ate dinner and then threw up is bulimic. Let's rule out normal puppy tantrum and learned barking (flu or food poisoning) first.
Pups can learn that barking gets stuff -AND they learn it quickly at a very young age. The truth is that most pups who bark, whine, howl, and yip when left alone are just being normal pups. When they are born pups learn that whining, whimpering and yowling gets them food, relief and warmth. Later when the pup moves in with people, it must learn that barking does not work. Ignoring the noise is the only way to teach your pup that barking does NOT work.
Punishing a pup for barking is a mistake, it will ruin your relationship, and possibly make the dog aggressive. Or, the dog will learn to bark when no one can get there to deliver a punishment, but will bark freely when you are not around. It is hard to ignore a barking dog. Here are some tips. IGNORE means: Do not look at, talk to, touch or go towards your pup.
Do not return to or let your pup out until the pup has completely given up making noise & settles into doing something else, like laying down, chewing, or eating. When it is time to let your pup out again, praise your pup clearly from outside the room. Then, go get your puppy. In this version, once you praise the pup, they get out -even if they make noise once you enter the room. Use the same phrase each time you praise your dog. Here is a harder, tough-love version. Enter the room, leave immediately if your pup starts to make noise again (don't choose this version if your pup has been in there a long time and is ready for a potty-break).
Puppies are messy! Pups that chew, shred, smear, and gnaw on this are also normal. There is no fancy label for their behavior, they are just young. They can, and will make a mess especially if left alone for long periods of time (more than 2-3 hours). It is not unusual for pups to chew on paper, shred wee-pads, or smear their pee & poop around. They don't do it on purpose -it just happens to be there when they are romping around and making up their own games.
There are things you can do to minimize messes. Unless your pup has caused serious damage to a door, window, gate, crate or worse themselves, they are a normal pup. Most messes are NOT done in a panic, but that instead the results of a darn good solo-puppy-party! However, if your dog has done serious damage to a door, window, gate, crate or bloodied their paws or face, then you may have a dog with Separation Anxiety Disorder.
Understanding & DEALING WITH NORMAL PUPPY BARKING
Barking can be done anywhere and so it is the most difficult to manage. There are many things you can do to channel your pups play-energy into appropriate places. Exercise, play fetch and tug, Kong-feeding, chew-toys, puppy-proofing, gating, and crating all help minimize and contain a mess. More importantly a tired pup is a quiet pup.
Confining and/or crating a pup is important and should be done despite the fact that your pup might rather not be away from you. Toddlers that fuss when put in a car seat do not get to ride on your lap simply because they want to be there. Eventually kids stop fussing about car seats and seat belts because it fails to work. However temper tantrums are aweful -they are more than complaints; they are last ditch efforts to get something, or get out of something. Puppy barking can be very loud if the pup is frustrated. This can happen when they are learning that what used to work, crying for food, milk, warmth, companionship, is no longer an acceptable way to ask for things (that worked with dog-mom, but not people-parents).
IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT, DO YOU STILL HAVE TO CRATE/CONFINEMENT-TRAIN YOUR PUPPY?
Yes. Imagine if you boarded a plane and the person next to you just started sobbing, them screaming and rolling on the ground. When a baby cries it is annoying, but acceptable age-appropriate behavior. For an adult to do this instead of asking for a blanket or beverage is abnormal. The times in your life at which you learned that screaming and crying would not get you things was probably stressful and frustrating for you and your parents. Crate/confinement-training is not easy, but it is necessary for a well-adjusted dog.
Now that you understand WHY your puppy is barking...
You can TEACH YOUR PUPPY TO BE ALONE
Do You Have A Training Question For Kelley? Click Here.
Now that you understand WHY your puppy is barking...
You can TEACH YOUR PUPPY TO BE ALONE
Do You Have A Training Question For Kelley? Click Here.
Now that you understand WHY your puppy is barking...
You can TEACH YOUR PUPPY TO BE ALONE!
If you have never left your puppy alone it is important to do everything that you can to set them up for success.
Puppies should have an area that is safe and can be gated-off. If you have a jumper, try stacking two gates. I prefer this to shutting a door. Door need to be opened to see what is happening, and they can be scratched. If you aren't sure... start by stacking two gates so that any jumping attempts will fail.
This area should be easy-to-clean, in case your pup has an accident. Tile and linoleum floor are best. Cement is porous and will absorb odors unless protected with a sealant. The puppy confinement area should be safe. Remove any items of value and anything your pup might chew or make a mess with such as plants, books, baskets, clothing, cleaning items etc...
This area should have a crate. The door can be left open and a comfortable bed can be inside the crate. There should be some water in a spill-proof bowl. You don't want to have to go back because they barked, jumped and knocked over the water. This will give your dog the idea that barking & spilling = mommy and daddy come back.
Try putting your puppy in this area when she is:
EXHAUSTED! Think a 3-hour walk or hike, a doggie-play session at the beach, an afternoon with the kids from the neighborhood.
HUNGRY! I encourage you to skip or go light on a meal or two. It won't hurt the pup if they miss a lunch meal just once.
You should be:
RESTED! Don't do this when you are tired, cranky or short on patience.
READY FOR SOME NOISE! Earphones, movie, music, home-workout.
NOT GOING ANYWHERE! Don't actually leave during or after the first time you do this.
THE PLAN FOR PUPPIES FIRST SUCCESSFUL ALONE-TIME.
- Skip breakfast, but prepare a really tasty Kong and put it in the fridge.
- Check that the confinement area is fully prepared and puppy-proofed.
- Take your puppy out for a really, really long hike, play session, walk or combination of all of this.
- Bring the pup back home (don't let this be a long nappy car trip (this will undo the exercise).
- Take your pup to their potty area and allow them time to take care of business.
- Go to the kitchen and get the Kong and a few chew items.
- Put the puppy in the confinement area and give them the Kong. Secure the gate (stacking if necessary).
- Walk away and out of the room -IGNORE what you hear.
- Wait until the puppy is quiet for at least 10-15 minutes, then listen (without disturbing).
Does it sound like the pup is asleep? Eating from the Kong? Chewing? Congratulations. Now just let your pup out BEFORE they start to cry again.
Feed your pup like this everyday. Soon they will need only normal amounts of exercise and you can start putting their regular food in the kong with less and less of the really amazing treats.
Do You Have A Training Question For Kelley? Click Here.
Signs of Separation Anxiety DISORDER
If your dog is showing one or more of these signs, you should contact a Certified Dog Trainer or Behaviorist immediately.
Murrieta, CA